A middle distant starboard beam view of the iron three-masted cargo ship Rydal Hall (1874) under tow from the paddle tug Queen of the Bay (1867). The ship has only the lower main and fore masts standing, having lost the rest of the rig in a gale. The tug is on the right of the image. The left to lower right foreground is dominated by the foreshore where the photographer was standing.

A copy negative from an original print of an earlier glass negative.

The Rydal Hall was on its maiden voyage from Liverpool to San Francisco with a general cargo when caught in a gale, losing much of the rig. The ship was towed on 20 April 1875 to the Isles of Scilly by the paddle tug Queen of the Bay when dangerously close to the Seven Stones rocks.